Repudiation of Philosophical and Irfani (Mystical) Fundamentals in Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s Monotheistic Teachings Last part (7)

Repudiation of Philosophical and Irfani (Mystical) Fundamentals in Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s Monotheistic Teachings

Last part (7)

Has human been created in the image of God?!

One of the philosophical and irfani ideas which has been disproved and repudiated by Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him) is this issue that man is created in the image of God, and that human is manifestation of all Names and Attributes of God.

Ibn Arabi says: “One of the enlightenments of God emanated from His Prophet’s tongue is that, verily Allah created Adam on His image” (Fotuhaat al-Makkiyah 2/490); and he writes elsewhere: “Whoever knows himself with this gnosis, has known his Lord, because God has created him on His image, rather, He (God) is عین exactly one and the same as the identity and entity of human” (Fosus al-Hekam 1/125).

The late Mutahhari in the book “Perfect Man” writes: “The ‘urafa, their manner of belief is wahdat al-wujood [wal mawjood] … in this school the perfect man at the end becomes عین one and the same as God. In fact the true perfect man is God himself”. (Perfect Man 168)

But referring to the Ahl al-Bayt (Salaam Be Upon Them), we find that the ‘urafa, and also the sunni sect of Moshabbaheh [adherents to Tashbih] who believe in Allah’s assumption of human form, have distorted the meaning of the Hadith and have misused it for the sake of their erroneous and false principles.

A narrator said that he told Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him): O the son of the Rasool of Allah! People narrate that the Prophet (Salaam Be Upon Him and His Progeny) said: God created Adam on His Soorat (form, image, …). Imam Riza (SBUH) said:

May Allah kill them! These people have indeed omitted the beginning of the Hadith. The Prophet (SBUH&HA) had encountered two men cursing each other. He (SAWA) heard one saying to the other: Allah considers your face and the face of he who is like you ugly. The Prophet (SBUH&HA) said to that man: O the servant of Allah! Do not say such a thing to your brother because Allah created Adam based on His Soorat علی صورته. (‘Oyun Akhbaar al-Riza (SBUH), 1/120)

Shaikh Sadooq, in regard to this Hadith has said: The adherents to Tashbih have neglected the beginning of this Hadith and not only they themselves deviated from its meaning, but also have misled others.

And in another Hadith the above Hadith has been explained that Allah has created Adam based on “His” Soorat, but this addition [adding Soorat to “His”, i.e. attributing Soorat to Allah] is a dignifying addition and attribution; in the same manner that Allah says in regard to Ka’bah: بيتي Bayti (“My” House). This means Allah wishes to dignify and honor Adam and humankind, therefore He attributes him to Himself; not that it may be assumed that the existence of human and Adam is the same as Allah’s Existence and Dhaat (Essence …). (Tawhid Sadooq 103)

[This other mentioned Hadith is narrated by Mohammad ibn Moslem a highly devoted scholar and student of Imams Baaqer and Saadeq (SBUT) who asked Imam Baaqer regarding the meaning of the Hadith that Allah created Adam on His Soorat. The Imam (SBUH) responded that the Soorat (form …) of Adam was a creation of Allah which Allah selected and chose over other different Soorats (forms …) and attributed it to Himself as He attributed Ka’bah (Qur’an 2:125) and spirit (Qur’an 38:72) to Himself. (Tawhid Sadooq, p. 103, Baab 6, Hadith 18)

Qur’an 2:125 And when We made the House a pilgrimage for men and a (place of) security, and: Appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim. And We enjoined Ibrahim and Ismail saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves.

Qur’an 38:72 So when I (Allah) have made him (Adam) complete and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down making obeisance to him.

In Qur’an 2:125 when Allah adds and attributes Ka’bah to Himself and calls it “My House” surely this does not mean that Allah lives in Ka’bah SOBHAANALLAH, this only means that Allah has chosen, honored and dignified Ka’bah- which is a created phenomenon originally built by Allah’s Prophets-; and in Qur’an 38:72 when Allah adds and attributes the spirit breathed into Adam to Himself and calls it “My spirit” surely this does not mean that Allah has parts and one part is His spirit and He breathed from His own essence into Adam SOBHAANALLAH, this only means that Allah chose, and thus honored and dignified the created spirit which He breathed into Adam (SBUH) by attributing it to Himself.

In another Hadith Imam Saadeq (SBUH) told Mohammad ibn Moslem that all things which Allah Attributed to Himself, such as His House, His spirit, His Khalil and so on, are made and created and Allah is their Modabber (administrator, manager, …). (Book of Kaafi, vol. 1, p. 133; …)

Therefore the Hadith that Adam (SBUH) was created based on the Soorat of Allah means that Adam was created based on the chosen form which was created and dignified by Allah; i.e. just like Ka’bah, and the Spirit bestowed upon Adam, which were honored creations of Allah, so was the image and form which Adam (SBUH) was created based on; and it absolutely does not mean that Adam and humankind for that matter, look like Allah and are similar to Him in any manner whatsoever … SOBHAANALLAH

Let us never forget:

Qur’an 42:11 … There is nothing whatever like unto Him [Allah], and He is the Hearer and the Seer.

We must also pay attention that the Soorats based on which things are created- including the Soorat (form, image, …) based on which humankind is created- are all creations of Allah and thus not eternally preexistent, unlike the school of philosophy which talks about the eternally preexistent Anwa’ (types …) of all things, and the school of ‘irfan which talks about the eternally preexistent Al-A'yan Al-Thabitah of all things within the Dhaat of Allah …

Such polytheistic and blasphemous interpretations directly stem from the Satanic forsakenness of the Allah Chosen Successors of the Prophet (SBUT), the only Infallible holders of Divine Knowledge and the only True interpreters of the Word of Allah …

Also let us remember, as we briefly mentioned in parts 1 and 2 of this writing: The followers of previous Prophets such as Moses, Jesus and … (SBUT)- after forsaking the Allah Chosen Successors (SBUT) and thus disregarding the Pure Divine teachings of Prophets and Successors (SBUT)- fell into the Satanic traps of human myths, philosophies, mysticism, gnosticism and …, and as the result followed the deviated philosophical, mystical, gnostical and … teachings and misinterpretations of the Word of God … And eventually lost the Path of Monotheism …

Let us now look at an example related to our discussion here. The following statements have been both distorted and also misinterpreted based on philosophical, mystical, gnostical and … principles by adherents to the bible:

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

… A few of destructive consequences of distorting and misinterpreting this concept have been the personification of Allah in human form and characteristics in many bible statements … and the incarnation of God as the Prophet Jesus (SBUH) … and everyone being the children of God … and …

… Alas! ibn Arabi and … have been taking some muslims into the same Satanic abyss …

Note of the striking resemblance- as the Prophet (SAWA) had prophesied- between deviations after the previous Prophets and what has started among some muslims going further and further away from the Pure teachings of the Allah Chosen Successors, i.e. the AhlulBayt (SBUT) …

Again and again … we emphasize that today the only Straight Path of Allah is the Path defined by the Prophet Mohammad and his Infallible AhlulBayt (SBUT), the Path guarded by the last of them, Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH) … the Path which he (SBUH) guides the humble servants of Allah toward …]

Imam Riza (SBUH) in another Hadith has repudiated the [philosophical] belief of consubstantiality and similarity of human and Allah, or as in the polytheistic belief of the ‘urafa, the عینیت exact sameness and oneness of the Dhaat of Allah and human.

Yunos ibn Abd al-Rahmaan [one of the most devoted students of the Imam] has stated: I wrote to Abi al-Hasan al-Riza (SBUH) and asked him about Adam, whether there was a thing from the Dhaat (Essence) of the Lord in him. Then the Imam in response to my letter wrote:

Asker of such question is not in accordance to a thing of the Sunnah, rather is a Zendiq (atheist, infidel, heretic …).

(Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 3, p. 292)

[The presented issues in this writing are few of very serious differences between the man-made school of philosophy and ‘irfan and the Pure and Allah-Taught School of the AhlulBayt (SBUT); as observed the differences are major! It is noteworthy to mention that the philosophers and ‘urafa- specially the shia philosophers and ‘urafa- do praise the AhlulBayt (SBUT) and even follow and teach their ethics and …, but unfortunately at the same time, in regard to the most important issues- i.e. Tawheed (monotheism) and …- they do follow philosophical and irfani criteria, and misinterpret the teachings of Qur’an and the Prophet and his AhlulBayt (SBUT) for the sake of those standards. One of the most significant points in regard to the AhlulBayt is that they possess Allah Bestowed Knowledge and are Chosen by Allah Himself to be the guards and teachers of Divine Knowledge; forsaking their Divine Knowledge is tantamount to rejecting them!

Centralization of Qur’an together with the Prophet Mohammad and his Infallible and Chosen AhlulBayt (SBUT) as the true interpreters of the Word of Allah, is the only heavenly key for remaining on the Straight Path of Allah. As the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in the famous Hadith of Thaqalayn- narrated both by the Shi’ah and the sunni as mutawatir (meaning that it has been related many times by many people)- emphasized on the fact that he (SAWA) was leaving behind two weighty matters, the Qur’an and his AhlulBayt, and he clarified that indeed the two would never separate from each other until they would come back to him by the Pool (of al-Kawthar on the Day of Judgment) and that only by strictly adhering to both these weighty matters, human would never go astray.

Another important matter which is noteworthy to be mentioned is that while the indicated beliefs in this writing are of the classic philosophy and irfan- which, in different forms and levels, are being offered in Islamic academies even in Hawza (Shia academy)-, many types of so called new irfans and in general many schools and types of interpreting Qur’an are also being introduced. These so called newer schools of thought are all in addition to the classical distorted beliefs of the sufi, sunni and the wahaabi; the key point is that The common point in all these schools is the decentralization of either the AhlulBayt (SBUT) or even both the Prophet Mohammad and the AhlulBayt (SBUT) as the possessors of Allah Bestowed Knowledge and the True interpreters of Qur’an.

Since the teachings of these so called ‘irfans are in essence the same as Sufism, we are going to- from the many Hadiths which declare the beliefs of Sufism as heretic- as a sample, mention one Hadith from Imam Riza (SBUH):

Any one before whom the Sufi is mentioned and he does not repudiate them with his heart and tongue, he is not from us; and he who repudiates them it is as if he has performed jihad with atheists (Koffaar) in the presence of the Rasul (Messenger) of Allah (SAWA).

(Safinah al-Bihar, vol. 2, p. 57; Hadiqah al-Shi’ah, p. 563; …)

Alas! … So ignorantly many of these so called new schools of thought think that they look modern by forsaking the Prophet’s and the AhlulBayt’s (SBUT) Knowledge, not realizing that they (SBUT) possess Divine Knowledge, the All-Perfect Knowledge which was perfect yesterday, is perfect today and will be perfect tomorrow, the Knowledge which encompasses all of human’s little knowledge, the Knowledge which is not limited to boundaries and dimensions of this earth such as time and place, …